Applications of three-dimensional surface imaging in the plastic and aesthetic breast surgery

Abstract

Three-dimensional surface imaging (3D-SI) can objectively evaluate the shape of body surface, and has been widely used in the plastic and aesthetic surgery. The authors make a review of this technique in the breast surgery, which contains the introduction of 3D-SI, the accuracy and reproducibility of 3D-SI in breast symmetry evaluation, and the applications of 3D-SI in preoperative surgical planning, postoperative effect evaluation, and follow-up observation. Most of the literatures show promising results, indicating that this technique has good prospects in the plastic and aesthetic breast surgery. However, there is still lack of evidence of its superiority over other methods from multicenter large sample randomized controlled studies. Key words: Three-dimensional surface imaging; Breast; Surgical planning; Symmetry; Evaluation